How Eric Sim inspired me to write again after 15 years!
I used to be an avid writer but had not written in 15 years since my hard disk died in a freak accident and made me lose everything that I had ever written. That incident broke my writing spirit and nothing and no one could motivate me to write again.
However, it is uncanny how you come across life-changing moments when and where you least expect them.
Eric Sim inspired me to write again after I attended his talk at a Career Fair organized by the CFA society Bahrain in November 2019. He was one of the main speakers at that event. (I must admit that I had never heard of him before that day and I have not stopped following him since)
I am sharing what it was about Eric’s talk that triggered something in me.
Firstly, I think it was the live and upclose personal experience. It reminded me of an analogous experience that I had felt when I first saw a play many years ago. I was awestruck by the actors and their performance. They were both acclaimed actors and I had seen many movies of theirs with equally commendable performances. But something about seeing them live and upclose impressed me manyfold. I am now convinced that reading a book or watching a video cannot have as powerful an impact as a live interactive experience.
Furthermore, there were many small things that added to Eric Sim’s persona.
He started his talk by sharing an interesting and warm experience of his visit to a famous local restaurant on his first day in Bahrain. His story and photos from his visit created an instant and warm connection and made one tune in to everything else he had to say after that. While it is something a lot of speakers and leaders consciously attempt to do,
Eric did it in a very natural, simple, and honest manner.
He stressed the importance of building one’s personal brand and on using social media to do. He also stressed on writing even if one did not think that they wrote well.
The best thing about his talk was that it was so easy to walk away with simple, lucid, practical, and extremely relevant takeaways.
Eric Sim was warm, interesting, anecdotal, articulate, concise, and inspiring. And inspired I was, to write again!
My first piece of writing on LinkedIn was viewed more than 10,000 times and got me 25 new connections from across the globe. One of the comments on the article was from Eric Sim himself! And it removed the final nail from the coffin that my writing was banished to for more than a decade.
I have begun to write again with increasing regularity. It gives me peace, pleasure, energy, and it has certainly added flavour to my thoughts. I am constantly thinking of small bits and pieces (my writing seeds) that I park in my notes to sprout into complete articles later.
Thank you, Eric Sim, for the impact you have had in my life in our brief, yet priceless, interaction.
You have been truly
Enlightening!
Revitalizing!
Invigorating!
Compassionate!
Supportive!
Inspirational!
Motivational!
CFA Society Bahrain,
Bahrain, Manama,
By Mohammed Siddiqui
